Australian Motorcycle News Vol 68 Issue 24

We need to be at that high level of preparation on our bikes, too I RECENTLY READ an article written by Kiwi mountaineer, Lydia Bradey, the first woman to climb Mt Everest without supplemental oxygen – a controversial feat – but some things in that article really struck me hard. How can climbing Everest be so similar to riding a motorcycle on the road? One quote, in the story written for the ABC, was uncannily like how we motorcyclists should think. “I feel my huge amount of experience and excellent support team significantly reduces the risk of getting sick or dying (on Everest). I know how to turn around on the mountain, I can read my own oxygen bottle to be sure I don’t run out, I can abseil on my own and…

“IT EMBODIES FOR ME WHAT MOTORCYCLING IS REALLY ABOUT … FEELING INSTEAD OF THINKING. YOU JUST WANT TO JUST GET ON IT AND RIDE OFF. BUT WHEN YOU GET OFF IT, YOU DON’T JUST PUT IT IN THE GARAGE AND WALK AWAY – YOU TURN AROUND AGAIN AND GIVE IT A FINAL PARTING GLANCE.”– BMW design boss Edgar Heinrich “THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS TO RENDER EVERYTHING VISIBLE. EVERY PART HAS A FUNCTIONAL PURPOSE. THERE ARE NOT MANY WHO WOULD DARE TO TAKE SUCH AN ABSOLUTELY HONEST APPROACH.”– Project chief Bart Janssen-Groesbeek Just the beginning A RANGE OF R 1800 cruisers is being developed. A full-dresser touring bike, clearly designed to give Harley’s Ultra Limited a run for its money, has already been spied testing in Germany. It was powered by the same…

DON'T BE FOOLED. This isn’t just BMW’s bobber concept finally unveiled. It’s the basis of a whole new-model line-up that will shake the cruiser market to its core. This is the engine and chassis that will form the backbone of a entire model range, from full-dress bagger tourers to stripped-down street cruisers to bobbers. And after months of teasing with unofficial projects using the new 1800cc air-cooled Boxer engine, BMW’s finally spilled the beans. BMW design boss Edgar Heinrich and cruiser project chief Bart Janssen-Groesbeek chose Italy’s annual homage to motoring design, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, to unveil its Concept R18. That engine will be as significant to BMW as the Milwaukee-Eight is to Harley-Davidson. H-D’s big V-twin appears in everything from the Fat Bob and FXDR114 to the Road Glide and…

“WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT A MOTOGPLIKE BIKE” KAWASAKI PLANS TO create a wilder ZX-10RR in 2020 to wrest back the upper ground from a resurgent Ducati. The onslaught of homologation-special Superbikes that current WorldSBK regulations encourage has already seen Ducati’s Panigale V4 R pushing the boundaries of the series’ rulebook. Bike firms need only to show the intention to make 500 examples of a model over a two-year period and to bring the list price under the arbitrary AUD$60,000 ceiling to meet the production qualifications for the series. Previous levels were as high as 2000 bikes. Kawasaki, which has dominated WSBK since 2015, has a new plan to catch up to Ducati. Its designer-engineer Ichiro Yoda has told German publication Speedweek: “We have to become more competitive and think about a MotoGP-like bike. An…

WE'VE BEEN KEEPING a close eye on Aprilia’s RS660 mid-size sportsbike, first revealed at Milan’s EICMA show, then busted during racetrack testing. Now we’ve finally got the full picture of what the showroom version is likely to look like, thanks to these new design patents for the bike. Without doubt the most welcome surprise of last year’s EICMA show, the Aprilia RS660 could well be the bike to revive the withering mid-size sportsbike market. Meanwhile, we’ve busted KTM’s side project, a skunkworks-style supermotard test mule, a bike harking back to the lightweight motard-style roadbikes popular during the naughties. The final production version of the RS660, as well as KTM’s all-new 790 SM, will be two of the stars of November’s EICMA show. And we can’t wait. 2020 Aprilia RS660 WHILE THE OVERALL shape remains close…

MV AGUSTA'S SUPERVELOCE 800 – a neo-retro sportsbike based on the F3 800 – became an instant dream bike when shown at last year’s EICMA. Now MV Agusta has doubled-down on its promise to put it into production, with an Instagram message featuring the silhouette and the words: “We feed your desire. The MV Agusta Superveloce. Coming 2020.” Originally, MV Agusta said that a production version of the Superveloce would be ready by late 2019, so this news confirms it’s on schedule. The image doesn’t show us anything new so we expect the original bodywork, penned under the guidance of MV’s design boss Adrian Morton, isn’t likely to change. Its neo-retro style harks back to machines from the 1960s and 1970s but doesn’t try to be a replica, combining the curvaceous shapes of the…